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James Rawley
★★★★★
Colin’s deep knowledge of the market was invaluable. He made what could have been a stressful experience feel manageable and pleasant. I would recommend him to anyone buying in Albany or the wider Capital Region.
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Albany, NY · Albany County
Albany Real Estate Services
1,200 rowhouses in one historic district, a Frederick Law Olmsted park, an Empire State Plaza that runs a workforce, and a housing supply so tight that two-thirds of homes now sell above asking. Upstate’s capital, and its most competitive buyer’s market.
Inventory
Current listings in Albany
Homes for sale in Albany, updated live from the Global MLS. Albany is the tightest supply market in the region — roughly 0.4 months of inventory, with about 65% of homes selling above asking price and a median 56 days on market. Center Square/Hudson-Park rowhouses, Pine Hills single-family, and Delaware Ave two-families each move on their own cycle. Tell us what you are looking for and we will filter the MLS and pocket network for you.
Who You’ll Work With
Meet your Albany agent
Colin McDonald
Broker / Owner · NYS Licensed Real Estate Broker #10491210476
Colin is a Capital Region native who has closed more than $300 million in career sales and over 300 transactions, including the highest recorded closings in Albany County in 2019 and 2020. He opened McDonald Real Estate Company in Troy in 2021 after years as a top producer at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services.
Our office is on 2nd Street in downtown Troy — fifteen minutes over the Menands Bridge to downtown Albany, a route we run daily. The argument for working with us in Albany is that Colin brokered the highest recorded closings in Albany County in 2019 and 2020, and the team has spent the last decade walking Center Square rowhouses, Pine Hills bungalows, Buckingham Pond ranches and Delaware Ave two-families. We know which blocks in Arbor Hill are the next Delaware, which rowhouses share a chimney flue with a derelict neighbor, and which listings are priced with the intent of pulling a 65% over-asking market response.
Reviews
Over 300+ Clients in Their Dream Homes
Google and Zillow reviews from across the Capital Region.
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lenderking
★★★★★
Phenomenal both when I bought and sold. Responsive, professional, thorough. Bought and sold in Arbor Hill, Albany — Colin knew the block better than the listing agent did.
A
Amy Dall
★★★★★
Colin is really knowledgeable, fun, available, responsive and knows everyone! He was able to schedule 3 different contractors for estimates in the same 1 hour time frame. I had a VERY modest budget and he treated me like I was buying a million dollar home.
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Gina Feliciano
★★★★★
Colin found a gorgeous Marcus Reynolds condo in the Center Square Neighborhood. He’s the only realtor I’ll use. Knows the historic buildings by name.
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Kristopher Constable
★★★★★
I sent in the offer in January and closed in February! Him and his team are the best people for the job in Albany County!
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Leigh Wedenoja
★★★★★
He got me to see every listing I was even a little interested in — 10 in one Sunday. I cold called him a couple weeks before Halloween and we closed before Thanksgiving.
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Pete Hawkins
★★★★★
I’ve been able to work alongside McDonald Real Estate Co. on a number of inspections. They are knowledgeable and enthusiastic advocates for their clients.
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Abigail Possinger
★★★★★
He made the process of buying my second home even simpler than the first time around.
The Place
What is life in Albany like?
Albany is New York’s capital, a mid-sized city built on Dutch foundations along the Hudson, with a 19th-century rowhouse core that survived most of the urban renewal wave that flattened comparable cities. The Empire State Plaza — state offices, the Capitol, the Egg — sits downtown and drives a major share of the daytime workforce. Around it: SUNY Albany, Albany Med, Albany Law, Saint Rose, and the Albany College of Pharmacy stretch through the west and north sides of the city, giving Albany a college-town dynamic that a state capital typically does not have.
The rest of Albany is neighborhoods, and the neighborhood you buy in is the answer. Center Square and Hudson-Park are the historic rowhouse core — one district, one Historic Preservation Commission, about 1,200 buildings with only 22 non-contributing, almost all two-to-four-story brick rowhouses. Washington Park sits at the west edge, a Frederick Law Olmsted design that hosts the Tulip Festival every May. Pine Hills runs west of the park, single-family and small multi-family at student walking distance from three colleges. Delaware Avenue runs south with a strong two-family investment stock. Buckingham Pond, Whitehall, Melrose and New Scotland cover the single-family west side. The Mansion Historic District covers the South End around Lincoln Park; Arbor Hill and West Hill sit north of downtown with emerging rehab activity.
The market pull matters here. Albany is running a 0.4-month supply, homes are selling at roughly 104.6% of asking, and about 65% of transactions close above list — up from 45% a year ago. That is not the same market a buyer navigated in 2020 or 2022, and it changes how offers get written. Troy is fifteen minutes over the Menands Bridge, Saratoga Springs is forty minutes north on I-87, and Manhattan is two and a half hours by Amtrak from Rensselaer station.
The Numbers
Median sales price in Albany
Four different sources report four different Albany numbers because they measure different things — city vs. county, list vs. sale, all housing vs. specific market indicators. Here is what each one is actually showing.
| Segment | Median | Price / SqFt | Trend | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citywide typical home value | ~$335,000 | — | +4.4% YoY | Zillow, mid-2026 |
| Citywide median list price | ~$317,500 | — | +7.3% YoY | Movoto, 2026 |
| Albany County median sale price | ~$381,000 | — | +12.2% YoY | Redfin, Q2 2026 |
| Sale-to-list ratio | 104.6% | — | Homes closing above asking | Redfin, 2026 |
| Homes sold above list | ~65% | — | Up from 45% last year | Redfin, 2026 |
| Median days on market | ~56 days | — | Fast for a rowhouse city | Redfin, 2026 |
| Active inventory (months supply) | ~0.4 months | — | Structurally tight | Redfin, 2026 |
How We Help
Our services in Albany
Buyers, sellers, investors and homeowners downsizing out of an Albany address. Each of these is a real workflow — not a landing page. Follow any link for the details.
Buy a home in Albany
Full buyer representation from first coffee to keys. Pre-approval strategy, neighborhood shortlist, historic-district screening, and offer strategy in a 65%-above-asking market where the second-highest offer often loses on escalation clauses, not price. Buyer services are typically free — the seller pays the commission at closing.
Sell a home in Albany
Full-service listing built for Albany specifically: pricing to the specific block, not the citywide median, since a Center Square rowhouse and a Buckingham Pond ranch answer to totally different comp sets. Professional photography and video, staging for both rowhouse interiors and single-family stock, and marketing to Albany’s in-migration buyer pool from Boston and downstate.
What’s my Albany home worth?
Free comparative market analysis, priced against the last 90 days of closed comps in your specific neighborhood and property type. Not a Zestimate. We walk the house, review deferred maintenance, and give you a defensible list price range with a target number.
Buy an Albany two-family or investment property
Albany has one of the deepest two-family and three-family stocks in the Northeast. The classic path: an owner-occupied two-family in Center Square, Pine Hills, Delaware Ave or Mansion, financed as a primary residence with tenants covering most of the mortgage. We verify legal C of O status, walk the heating and electrical systems, and model the rent roll before you offer.
Sell rental property with tenants in place
Selling an occupied Albany two-family is a different sale — showings, notice, lease transfer, and buyer pool (owner-occupant vs. investor) all shift. We handle the tenant conversations, structure showings that do not hurt the occupied unit’s valuation, and market to the buyer pool that actually closes on tenanted properties in this market.
Downsize out of an Albany address
Selling a long-held Buckingham Pond ranch or a Center Square rowhouse and buying smaller — often a condo downtown, a one-story ranch in Delmar or Loudonville, or a move out of the Capital Region entirely. We coordinate the sale and the purchase so you are not carrying two mortgages or renting between them.
Local Knowledge
What to know before buying in Albany
Four things an Albany buyer is surprised by, and three of them cost money. None of them appear in a Zillow listing description.
Center Square historic-district review is not optional
The Center Square/Hudson-Park Historic District covers roughly 1,200 buildings — and Albany’s Historic Resources Commission has authority over exterior work on covered properties: windows, doors, roofing material, cornices, storefronts, signage. Buyers who plan to swap sash for vinyl or replace a slate roof without a Certificate of Appropriateness get stopped. Additional districts cover Washington Park, Mansion, and portions of Arbor Hill. We flag the district status of every address on your shortlist before you offer.
Two-family stock is the Albany investment path — but verify the C of O
Half of Center Square, Delaware Avenue and Pine Hills was originally built as multi-family. Many properties today are configured as two- or three- unit rentals but are only legally certified for one or two units on file with the city. Buying a 3-family that is actually a legal 2-family — or a 2-family with an illegal basement unit — is where most first-time investors get caught. We pull the current Certificate of Occupancy on every prospective address before you offer.
Rowhouse systems: party walls, cast-iron stacks, cellar water
Center Square, Hudson-Park and Mansion rowhouses share masonry party walls with the properties on each side. Chimney flues, roof drainage, and shared parapet conditions all follow. Under the floor, most run cast-iron drain lines with limited remaining service life, and cellars near the Hudson see seasonal groundwater. None of it is a deal-killer. All of it wants three specific inspection line items: sewer scope from the trap to the city main, cellar moisture check with the plumbing running, and a roof drainage look with the neighbor’s side included.
Property taxes are among the highest in the region
Albany runs comparatively high effective property tax rates — a function of a smaller taxable base carrying city services and the Albany City School District (16 schools, roughly 8,300 students, 41% economically disadvantaged, per NYSED). City, county and school levies bill separately on different fiscal calendars. Before you offer we pull the current tax card, verify the assessment, and check for any active STAR credit or veterans exemption. Owner-occupants who purchased after August 1, 2015 register directly with the state at tax.ny.gov.
Why Here
What Albany has that you won’t find anywhere else in upstate New York
Plenty of upstate cities have one of these. A capital city that has all four at once, in walking distance of one another, is the part that is hard to repeat.
The oldest state capital in the original 13 colonies
Albany has been continuously occupied since 1614 and has been New York’s capital since 1797 — the oldest state capital in the original thirteen colonies. That history is not just interpretive plaques; it is the reason downtown holds the New York State Capitol, the Executive Mansion, the state museum, the Court of Appeals, and a workforce ecosystem that anchors the city’s employment base independent of national market cycles.
1,200 rowhouses in one historic district
The Center Square/Hudson-Park Historic District carries roughly 1,200 buildings and only 22 are counted as non-contributing — a level of architectural intactness virtually unmatched in the Northeast at that scale. Two-to-four-story brick rowhouses, most from the 1860s-1900s, laid out alongside Lark Street, Madison, State, and Hudson. It is why Center Square has been called the largest coherent Victorian residential district in the country.
A Frederick Law Olmsted park inside the city
Washington Park was laid out beginning in 1869 with input from Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park — 81 acres of curvilinear paths, a lake, tulip beds and a bandshell that hosts the Tulip Festival every May and Lights In The Park every winter. It sits directly west of Center Square, which is why the rowhouses that front it hold the highest per-square-foot prices in the historic district.
Five colleges and a Medical College inside city limits
Albany carries the College of Saint Rose, the University at Albany downtown campus, Albany Law School, Albany Medical College, and the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences — all inside city limits or immediately adjacent. That density supports a steady rental market for Pine Hills two-family investment stock, drives the Delaware Ave corridor, and gives Albany a college-town rhythm that a state capital usually does not have.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is the median home price in Albany right now?
Zillow’s Albany tracker reports the average home value at approximately $335,000, up 4.4% year over year through mid-2026. Movoto shows a median list price of $317,500, up 7.3% year over year. Redfin’s Albany County median sale price is running around $381,000, up 12.2% year over year through Q2 2026. The spread between city and county reflects the higher-priced suburban towns (Bethlehem, Guilderland, Colonie) pulling up the county number. For a specific city block or neighborhood, a recent comp set beats any citywide median.
How fast are Albany homes selling?
Very fast. Median time on market in Albany is roughly 56 days from list to close, but the meaningful number is what happens on the first weekend: about 65% of homes now sell above asking, and the average sale-to-list ratio is 104.6% (Redfin). Well-priced single-family homes in Pine Hills, Buckingham Pond and Delaware Ave often see multiple offers by the first Sunday. Rowhouses in Center Square and Hudson-Park in condition-dependent shape move slower — the buyer pool for a mid-restoration project is narrower.
Which Albany neighborhood should I look in?
Depends on what you want the house to do. Center Square and Hudson-Park for the historic rowhouse core near Lark Street and Washington Park. Pine Hills for smaller single-family and college-adjacent rentals. Delaware Ave for two-family investment stock. Buckingham Pond, Whitehall, Melrose and New Scotland for the single-family west side, driveways and yards. Mansion (South End near Lincoln Park) for restored townhouses in an emerging district. Arbor Hill and West Hill for early-stage rehab plays. We tour buyers across three or four before they commit — the neighborhoods are not substitutes.
Is Albany a good place to buy an investment property?
Yes, with filters. Albany has one of the deepest two-family and three-family housing stocks in the Capital Region, and college demand from SUNY-Albany, Saint Rose, Albany Law and Albany College of Pharmacy keeps rental absorption steady. Owner-occupied duplexes in Center Square, Pine Hills, Delaware Ave and Mansion remain a workable first-investment path. Critical filters: heating system (steam vs. forced air), certificate of occupancy status, and whether the property is grandfathered as legal two- or three-family — the last one is where most first-time investors get caught.
Do I need historic district approval to renovate an Albany rowhouse?
If the property is inside an Albany local historic district (Center Square/Hudson-Park, Washington Park, Mansion, or a listed landmark), exterior changes visible from the public right-of-way generally require a Certificate of Appropriateness from the city Historic Resources Commission. That covers windows, doors, roofing material, cornices, storefronts, and signage. Interior renovations are not regulated by the commission. National Register listing on its own does not create a review requirement, but the local district often overlaps with it.
What is the NY State Historic Homeowner Tax Credit and does it apply here?
A New York State income tax credit worth 20% of qualified rehabilitation costs on owner-occupied historic homes inside a listed historic district, up to $50,000 per project. Qualifying projects must total at least $5,000 in eligible expenses with at least 5% of the work on the exterior. Center Square/Hudson-Park, Washington Park, and Mansion district addresses generally qualify. Most buyers do not know the credit exists. Application runs through the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) before work begins.
How does the Albany City School District compare?
Albany City School District runs 16 schools serving roughly 8,329 students (NYSED). Roughly 41% of students are economically disadvantaged and the district has significantly higher minority enrollment (80%) than the New York average. On standardized measures the district generally underperforms the surrounding suburban districts — Bethlehem, Guilderland, Niskayuna — which is one reason many family buyers with school-aged children look outside city limits. That said, magnet programs at Albany High and specific elementary schools change the calculus for individual families. We can walk you through the specific school assignment for any address on your shortlist.
What are the property taxes like in Albany?
Albany runs among the higher effective property tax rates in the Capital Region — a function of a smaller taxable base carrying municipal services and the city school district. City, county and school levies are billed separately on different fiscal calendars. Before you offer we pull the current tax card, verify the assessment, and check for any active STAR credit or veterans exemption. Owner-occupants who purchased after August 1, 2015 register directly with the state for the STAR credit at tax.ny.gov. Purchases over $1M also owe the New York State 1% mansion tax at closing.
What kinds of homes are for sale in Albany?
A wide mix, sliced by neighborhood. Center Square and Hudson-Park carry two-to-four-story brick rowhouses, typically $350K to $800K depending on restoration. Delaware Ave, South End and Mansion hold two-family and three-family investment stock from $200K to $500K. Pine Hills has smaller single-family and duplexes near the colleges, $250K to $500K. Buckingham Pond, Whitehall, Melrose and New Scotland are the single-family west side, $300K to $650K. Downtown condos and loft conversions in the historic bank buildings run $300K to $700K.
Do Albany rowhouses have parking?
Most Center Square and Hudson-Park rowhouses do not have off-street parking — the original 1860s-1900s layouts predate the automobile, and residents rely on street parking with alternate-side rules and street-cleaning schedules. Some properties do have back-lot access via alleys, and a subset carry deeded garage or off-street spots. Pine Hills, Buckingham Pond and the west-side neighborhoods are almost universally single-family with driveways and often garages. If off-street parking is non-negotiable, the neighborhood filter does most of the search for you.
Looking to make a move in Albany?
Feel free to reach out for a no pressure – no obligation appointment.
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